Assembling articles for transportation



ASSEMBLING ARTICLES FOR TRANSPORTATION Filed April 10. 929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Wren/0w 7 W/fZS/OW C OOZISZ? Oct. 13, -1931 w. c. SPOUSTA 1,325,835

ASSEMBLIfiG ARTICLES FOR TRA'nsPoR'TATIofl Filed April 10, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 1 3, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WINSLOW CLEMENT SPOUSTA, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELEC- TRIC OOKPANY, INCORPORATED, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OIINEW ASSEMBLING ARTICLES Application filed April 10,

This invention relates to assembling articles for transportation, and more particularly to grouping articles for transportation in such a way that they may be unloaded expe- 5, ditiously.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple and economical method for assembling articles for transportation.

In accordance with this object one embodi-' ment of the invention comprises a method of assembling articles, such as lead pigs wherein a air of metallic straps are extended longitu inally of the floor of a freight car. A pair of wooden strips are then placed along and on top of the straps and a stack of the articles deposited on the strips. Another pair of similar strips are then ositioned on top of the stra s abutting the first strips and a second stac of the articles deposlted thereon. The placing of strips and depositing of stacks of the articles are carried out until one end of, the car is filled with a continuous row of stacks when the ends of the metallic straps are bent around the ends of the row and over the top thereof and clamped to secure the several stacks together as a unit. The row is separated from the walls of the car and from other similar rows so that it may slide or shift freely on the car floor when the car is jolted at either end, and the articles do not tend to roll but remain in their original stacked position so they may be removed at their destination by the same type of handlin'g device that loaded them.

This and other objects of the invention will. become apparent from the following description of one embodiment of the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is fragmentary perspective view of I a freight car or other suitable means for transporting lead pigs in which a pair of metallic straps and wooden strips or boards are shown positioned longitudinally of the car as in the first step of the method;

'Fig. 2 is a similar view disclosing stacked bars of lead deposited upon the floor boards as'in the second step of the method;

Fig. 3 discloses a completed row of the ron TRANSPORTATION 1929. Serial No. 354,002.

- stacks bound together by means of the metalstrap to maintain the end of the row straight.

Referring now to thedrawings in which like numerals designate similar parts in the several figures, there is disclosed a pair of metallic straps 5, such as strap steel, which are positioned longitudinally of the floor 6 of one end of a freight car and temporarily attached thereto by staples 7 and extended upwardly alon the end 8 of thecar and tem orarily attac led thereto by staples 9. he straps 5 are placed'at one side of the car, as shown, so that a number of, usuall three, pairs of such straps may be positione in one end of the car, and the straps are spaced at some distance from the side 10 of the car.

The straps 5 form the means whereb bars of. metal, such as pigs of lead or snnilar articles, are held together and protected from the jolts of the car, as will appear as this description progresses. With the straps temporarily attached as aforestated a wooden strips or boards 130i a le gt equal to the length of the stack of pigs to be sustamed thereby are laid over and along the" straps at one end of the car, but at some distance from the end 8, as shown in Fig. 1, to

rovide for movement of the stacks of pigs fragmentary side view of one air of engthwise of the car without contacting with the end thereof.

A stack of pigs, piled as shown in Fig. 2, in the manner in which they were positioned at the refinery with the pigs in one layer arranged transverselyto the pigs of the'adjoining layer and preferably seven layers high, is now brought into the car by any suitable means, such as a lift truck, which grips. thestack underneath the ledges 14 of the lowermost layer, and deposited upon the boards 13. The pigs of the uppermost, as well as v of the lowermost layer of the stack are arranged transversely of the straps 5 for the purpose of making firm contact with the straps 5 and the boards 13.

A second pair of boards 13 (Fig. 3) are now placed on top of and along the straps 5 posited thereon in close proximity or in con- I tact with the first stack. Thus, at this stage of the loading there are two ad oining stacks of (pigs positloned longitudinally of the car an resting upon separate pairs of sucessive boards 13. The boards 13 are separate so they do not interfere with the loading and unloading of the stacks.

Additional stacks of similarly piled pigs (Fig. 3), with the uppermost and lowermost layers arranged transversely of the straps 5 and the bo ards 13, are deposited by truck in the manner aforestated longitudinally of the car and adjoining the previous stack until a com lete row of contiguous stacks is produced w ich extends up to the car door. This is as far as it is practical for loading purposes to extend the row, and the staples 7 and 9 for temporarily securing the straps 5 to the car are now removed and the straps 5 are bent up around the ends and over the row of stacks and the ends of the straps are firmly clamped together at 15 to bind all of the stacks together in one continuous row or unit. Other similar rows,usually two, are now positioned alongside of this row in the same manner at some distance from the end of the car, and then at the other end of the car three other similar units are positioned. Care is taken to see that the units are separated from each other and from the car endsand sides so the units may be free to move when the car is jolted or jammed at either end. 1

By this method of grouping the stacks. of pigs, the boards 13 extending longitudinally of the car floor 6 provide for movement of the stacks along the floor rather than the rolling of pigs and stacks over each other and toward one end of the car when the car is jolted, since if the pigs were placed directly on the car floor they would not tend to slide because of their great weight and their frictional con tact with the irregular. surface of the car fioor.. If the stacks were placed directly on the car floor the lower layers of the stacks tend to remain stationary when the car is jolted and the upper layers roll over the lower ones. By positioning the boards 13 underneath the stacks, the stacks and boards 13 move along the floor as a unit upon any substantial jolt of the car and there is no tendency for any of the lead pigs to roll. The metallic straps 5 operate to secure the individual pigs in position while the stacks are thus slidmg on the boards 13 along the car floor,

Thus, with this method of providing for sliding of the stacks by means of the boards 13 andthe securing and binding of the lead pigs and stacks together by means of the straps 5,-the stacks of pigs arrive in the same condition in which they were originally positioned in the car and the individual stacks may readily be removed in the's'ame manner in which they were deposited in the car by extending the forks of a lift truck underneath the lowermost ledges 14 of each stack and removing the stack without having to replace any of the pigs. The lift truck readily removes one stack after another in the same manner that it loaded the pigs and there is no manual handling, restacking, rearranging, or replacing of the piles or pigs and no possible injuries resulting to operators in the manual handling necessitated where the stacks are not so orderly retained in position.

Whenever the car 'is subjected to a jolt or jar at either end it is to befunderstood that the individual stacks of pigs thus grouped together on the boards 13 and bound by the.

straps 5 slide longitudinally of the car rather than being subjected to the suddenness or abruptnessof the shock because the boards provide .for easy sliding of the stacks on the car floor and the rows or composed units of stacks are spaced from each other and from the sides and ends of the car to allow for this sliding movement. The: different groups of stacks never come in contact with each other or the car ends or sides and slide as a unit rather than being jolted or rolled as they I would if they wereheld or bound to some specific position, and thereby the pigs and stacks remain intact and in a condition for unloading at the destination without any re arranging.

From the 'foregoing description it is be lieved to be apparent that this novel method provides a simple and economical -way of shipping bars of metal or of grouping andsupporting articles in a carso that the bars or articles arrive at destination in the same be removed by the same kind of handling device that was used in loading. An optional way of maintaining the bound unit straight at its ends is shown in Fi 4, which consists of inserting a strip 17 neath the vertical portion of each strap 5 to bind against the end of the row.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific embodiment herein described and illustrated,

but is to be limited only by the scope of the condition in which they were loaded and may of assembling articles for for transportation, consisting in extending straps longitudinally of the car floor, placing boards on the straps, depositing the articles on the boards, and handing the articles and boards togetherb bendin the straps around the articles and c ampin t e straps together.

5. A method of assem ling articles in a car for transportation, consistin 'in grou ing the articles in individual units or hand ing ex tending straps longitudinally of the car floor, placing boards ofsuflicient len th to receive one of the individual units on t e straps, depositing the unit thereon, placing slmilar boards on the straps for receiving a second unit of articles, depositing the second unit thereon, Cplacing and depositin similar boards an units on the stra s, an handing the several units and boar s together into a large unit by bending the straps up around the units and clamping the straps together.

6. A method of assembling articles in a car for transportation, consisting in positioning individual stacks of the articles with the 3 articles of the uppermost and lowermost lay ers thereof disposed transversely of the car end to end and longitudinally of the car, and extending straps longitudinally of the stacks around said transverse layers to bind the m stacks together-as a unit.

7 A method of assembling bars of metal 'in a car for transportation, consisting in grouping the bars in units for trucking, po-' sitioning boards longitudinally of the floor of the car so the units may move longitudinally thereof, depositin the units adjacent each other upon the boar s, and securing the bars inposition in the units.

8. A method of assembling bars of metal in a car for transportation, consisting in extending a pair of straps longitudinally of the car floor, placing boards along and on the straps, depositing the bars of metal in stacks upon the boards, and securing the bars of each stack in position by bending the ends of the straps up around all of the stacks and clamping the straps.

9. A method of assembling articles in a car for transportation, consisting in extend- .Q; ing a plurality of spaced straps longitudinally of the car floor, placing a plurality of boards along and on the straps, positioning individual stacks of the articles upon each board, the boards and stacks being in abutting end relation, and banding the several stacks and boards together into a large unit by bending the straps up around all of the stacks and clam ing the straps together.

In witness w ereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 28th day of March, A. D., 1929. 70

WINSLOW CLEMENT SPOUSTA.

- 4. A method of assembling articles in a car 

